AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone 517 700 Fax: 517844 STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION Volume 1: Vision and Mission of the African Union May 2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prepared by the African Union Commission TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Foreword 3 In the Beginning was Africa 4 Africa Constitutes a Coherent Geographic Mass Teeming 6 with Resources but Long Subjected to Adverse Factors In an Increasingly Globalised Economy, Africa is Currently 9 under Threat of Marginalization Distrust for Constituted Authority, Corruption and 14 Impunity coupled with Human Rights Abuses have kept Africa in a Situation of Conflicts, thereby undermining all initiatives towards Sustainable Development Regional Integration is a Crucial Catalyst of Africa’s 16 Renaissance NEPAD Epitomizes this Will to make Fresh Turnaround for 17 Africa African Union, Embodiment of Renewed Pan-Africanism, is 20 the Strategic Tool for Africa to take up the Challenges of the 21st Century The Vision of African Union is that of an Africa Integrated, 26 Prosperous and Peaceful; an Africa Driven by its Own Citizens, a Dynamic Force in the Global Arena To Translate the Vision into Concrete Action Seven 27 Missions have been Defined for the Commission of the African Union ___________________________________________________________________________ African Union Page 1 LIST OF ACRONYMS APRM : African Peer Review Mechanism REC : Regional Economic Community IGO : Inter-Governmental Organisation RIC : Regional Integration Community CSSDCA : Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa NEPAD : New Partnership for Africa’s Development OAU : Organization of African Unity AU : African Union LIST OF INSERTS: Page Insert 1: Conflicts in Africa 15 Insert 2: The New Partnership for Africa’s 18 Development (NEPAD) Insert 3: Stages of the progress to the African Union 21 Insert 4: From OAU (Inter-Governmental Cooperation Organisation) to AU 23 (Integration Organisation) Insert 5: List of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), 29 the major Inter-Governmental Organisations (IGOs) and Specialised Institutions Insert 6: List of the Organs of the African Union 30 Insert 7: Peace and Security Management Instrument 37 in the Continent ___________________________________________________________________________ African Union Page 2 FOREWORD The Commission of the African Union can now focus on three vital documents to discharge the mandate entrusted to it: the first of the three documents deals with the Vision of the African Union and the Mission of the African Union Commission; the second concerns the 2004-2007 Strategic Framework of the African Union Commission, while the third document contains the Action Plans of the various Departments of the Commission. The three documents are intended to structure a programme for the period 2004-2007 which the Commission will submit to the Policy Organs of the Organization in July 2004. It is important to note that the Vision, Mission and Strategic Framework of the Commission are the outcome of a collective brainstorming and decision-making exercises. The series of brainstorming seminars that took place in Addis Ababa during the months of October, November and December 2003, brought together staff members of the Headquarters of the Commission and those of the Regional Offices, African resource persons and heads of key institutions to debate what are the ambitions, requisite means and resources, commitments and expected outputs of the Commission. In the end, the sessions synergized intellectuals, politicians, civil society and public sector representatives, as well as the African Ambassadors and development partners based in the Ethiopian capital. Underlying the brainstorming and decision-making exercises was the need for citizens’ ownership of African integration by those who have a catalytic role to play in its materialization. On this score, we cannot but express delight at the fact that the Africa so much desired by the Founders of the African Union is an Africa conscious of its potential and determined to exploit it, particularly by pooling resources; an Africa critical of its own weaknesses and geared to actively participate in global trade; an Africa which cannot afford to wait until tomorrow to have its problems resolved; and an Africa determined to offer to its peoples, basic goods and services at affordable prices. But how do we attain these objectives? The Strategic Framework of the Commission constitutes the necessary road map. The requisite conditions needed for Africa to become a force to be reckoned with, a force we can rely upon, include among other things, the political will on the part of Member States to achieve integration; the firm commitment of the Commission; the total involvement of the people in the integration endeavour; and the optimal use of all our assets - namely the immense human and natural resources, the diversity and vitality of our cultures, our languages, our sense of solidarity and our readiness to dialogue, etc. | We shall overcome this challenge through a determined effort to map out and implement a strategy for what is possible and achievable. To this end, we will all have to invest our best efforts; first and foremost, our States, because their resolute commitment to build the African Union structure is the prerequisite for success; then, we have the people of Africa, since there can be no integration except one that is desired and driven by the people; and lastly, we have the Organs of the Union which can contribute a great deal to speeding up transformation of the Continent if they are endowed with fresh, commensurate and sustainable resources managed in accordance with business enterprise norms. To this end, the Organs of the Union will have to develop their own performance indicators and commit themselves to producing the right results within established deadlines. The Commission, for its part, is resolved to fully discharge the role expected of it and to promote within it the values of integrity, transparency, good governance and mutual respect, women’s development as well as the values of solidarity and unalloyed commitment to the cause of the African Unity. Alpha Oumar Konaré Chairperson of the Commission For the Commission of the African Union ___________________________________________________________________________ African Union Page 3 In the beginning was Africa The discovery in Chad in 2003, of the oldest Australopithecus (Toumai) aged seven (7) million years, represented a confirmation that Africa is the motherland of Humanity. Africans were the first to initiate the gigantic human adventure of progress. By communicating with like humans, Africans developed communal hunting and fishing skills and strategies by dint of tools, language, fire and the art of pottery, all of which led to the decisive take off of animal husbandry and agriculture. Africa was the birthplace and source of civilization for the longest period in the history of humanity, a period that people persist in describing wrongly, as “Prehistoric” using one sole criterion - “lack of written records”. In reality, History was born as soon as humans inhabited the earth, as evidenced by the development and flourishing of African agricultural basins, the first religions and marvellous rock art and sculptures. Moreover, at the dawn of “Antiquity”, Africa remained through Egypt, the driving force and teacher of the whole Universe with its art of writing and centralized authority, its architectural monuments such as the Pyramids, and its sciences and other achievements. That period accounted for one of the high points in the History of Humanity. As a matter of fact, the mother of Egypt was Nubia together with its pre- Saharan extensions, while Egypt itself was undoubtedly the renowned civilization of the Nile, that wonderful river gushing forth from the African womb, a civilization imbued in myth and science. This whole period of mankind’s history had specific characteristics. It was from the intermingling of various ecological and often complementary regions that the major achievements of the African emerged: firstly, Koush – a period similar to that of the Assyrians; then followed the period of Christian Nubia, and then by Carthage with its memorable encounters with Rome. Then we have Axum, Tekrour, Ghana, Kanem and other empires. Then came one thousand years of tremendous and wide-ranging progress throughout the Continent from the 7th to 17th centuries. As a matter of fact, it was during this period that the Northern portion of the Continent became a great commercial hub that gave rise to extensive Moslem space which created an impressive civilization born of the interaction and indeed fusion of numerous prestigious heritages bequeathed by ecumenism (Byzantine, Turkey, Arabia, Persia, India, China, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa). This crude but prosperous period was also marked by the Fatimides, Almoravides, Almohades and Mali, and saw the blossoming of Lalibela in Ethiopia (13th Century), ___________________________________________________________________________ African Union Page 4 and of Zera Yacob (15th Century). It saw the prosperity of the Yoruba Kingdoms and the Hausa States, the Benin and Gao Empires, the Kingdoms of Kongo, Luba, Lunda and Great Zimbabwe all of which flourished concurrently with the Egypt of Salah Ed Din and the redoubtable Mamluk. Even the